SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The moment Joe Lacob walks into the Chase Center and heads for his courtside seats, he and his family immediately feel the enormous energy and wholesome vibe that is the Golden State Valkyries’ “Ballhalla” home crowd game after game, sellout after violet-crazed sellout.
The women’s basketball franchise Lacob always envisioned while owning the Golden State Warriors has come together in no time, and in all the right ways – from relatable players other teams overlooked to leadership from the top down and smart branding complete with a beloved raven “bestie” Violet. Just don’t dare calling her a mascot.
On Saturday, Lacob will be there roaring with the rest of them as his Valkyries begin their quest for a WNBA championship in just their second year of existence. And whatever happens, he is immensely proud of the progress and the loyal support from everyone representing all walks of life who contributes to one of the best home-court advantages anywhere.
“What is truly remarkable is how great our fans are. Our players love it, we love it,” Lacob said. “It’s great, it’s a cohesion, it’s everybody coming together all at the same time and rooting for something that is new and fresh and it’s timely. And people see it and feel it. What’s going on in that arena is fantastic, it’s remarkable, it’s incredibly fun.
“I love walking in there, my wife, my family, we all love walking in there to the tremendous feeling of camaraderie and togetherness. We all as a team of people, fans, players, organization, together we’re making history and we all feel it.”
For decades, Lacob has loved women’s basketball and when he brought a WNBA franchise to the Bay Area at last, the owner had no hesitations about making bold predictions.
He promised a championship within the first five years. And now in the second year the Valkyries are playing for one.
“I’m telling you right now, we will win a WNBA championship in the first five years of this franchise,” Lacob declared on Oct. 5, 2023, when the WNBA announced Lacob’s ownership group had been awarded an expansion franchise.
“I think it just goes to show that with a new team, (you can have success) with a clear vision of what you want and the identity that you want,” center Kiah Stokes said. “Shoutout to the Valkyries organization, because they had this vision from the start, and to be able to see it come to fruition already in year two is pretty amazing and pretty special. We have a great group, it’s really special, and we’re looking forward to the finals.”
Lacob had followed his prediction with the same statement to now-coach Natalie Nakase when he interviewed her to be the sideline leader. She was all in from that moment.
“It’s just a perfect confluence of events and people and experience and timing. It’s just a lot of things that have all come together at the right time,” Lacob said. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I am shocked by this, I’m not. I think all the ingredients were there and I made that prediction knowingly and understood what I was saying, now to do it in two years, no one could sit here and tell you that would be something they would predict. No one, not even me."
Under Lacob’s leadership and the hiring of President Jess Smith and her staff, Golden State has built a roster of understated stars. Veronica Burton got cut by Dallas two years ago, while her backup point guard Kaitlyn Chen was briefly let go by the Valkyries last season before she returned. Kayla Thornton is a 33-year-old undrafted forward out of the University of Texas El Paso who became an All-Star in 2025. Gabby Williams had something to prove in the WNBA after sensing others didn’t believe in her ability.
That’s not the case anymore.
“It feels special because this is a special group,” Williams said. “All we need is each other. We just need to believe in each other, we know we weren’t a team that was talked about, but just the culture and going to work every day, we felt that we had something worth fighting for. That’s how we’re going into the finals, with that same mentality — staying together and staying unselfish.”
Lacob is into it, yelling from courtside in his Valkyries violet gear.
But this goes back decades for him. He supported Stanford and followed along when Hall of Fame Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer led the Americans’ gold-medal dominance at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and Lacob became a founding owner of the San Jose Lasers in the former ABL. He is thrilled with the WNBA's recent strides and the rise of women's sports.
Count Warriors coach Steve Kerr as a huge fan of these Valkyries.
“They’re so fun to watch, they’re so unselfish, they’re so tough, smart, well coached,” Kerr said. “And having watched this thing unfold over two years, I can’t imagine that there’s ever been a better expansion team in terms of the unveiling of everything – the brand, the colors, the name, the logo, the mascot, the vibe in the building. It’s incredible. We’re really proud of the team, excited for Natalie and her staff. We can’t wait for the finals.”
It certainly helps to have Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Brandin Podziemski and Gui Santos showing up in support.
Kyrie Irving has taken notice, too.
No matter who is cheering, Nakase has a message for the loyal, loud fans in a home crowd of 18,064 — including her top boss, Lacob — she is so counting on bringing their support to another level.
“Since we're prepping for a great game plan, Ballhalla better be prepping for a game plan,” Nakase said. “So as soon as they're announced, I need some hostility. If they do a challenge, I need hostility, and if they're shooting free throws, I need that thing to be rocking. Game plan, Ballhalla, get ready, get prepped.”
See AP’s full WNBA coverage here
Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton (22) participates in training in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Golden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase speaks during a news conference in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. (AP) — President Donald Trump showed off the new Air Force One and defended accepting the luxury jet from the Qatari royal family as he campaigned for Republicans Wednesday in an economically struggling corner of rural Arizona.
His first substantive comments after he got off the plane to address the airport rally described learning that the Qataris had “the best of all the 747s.” He said he called to ask the country's leader to borrow the aircraft before the emir offered it instead as a gift.
Trump accepted the airplane last year despite strong bipartisan criticism, including from some of his staunchest Republican supporters.
“When you’re given gifts, you take ’em, right?” Trump told the crowd in Bullhead City. “When they give you a 747 you say two words: ‘thank you.’”
Trump was on his second day of a Western campaign swing and was headed to a Republican-leaning U.S. House district in Montana after Arizona, continuing a midterm roadshow designed to rally the GOP. He campaigned in Alaska on Tuesday and in Ohio on Monday.
The visits come as the Republican president works to bolster his party in Nov. 3 elections that will determine control of Congress.
In Arizona, soaring music played as the former Qatari jet flew low over the local airport where supporters awaited Trump in the heat. The president, wearing his signature red baseball cap, emerged with a wave and a fist bump and slowly descended the stairs as speakers blasted Lee Greenwood's “God Bless the USA," the song that marks Trump's entrance at campaign events.
Air Force One, now wearing Trump's new red, white, blue and gold paint scheme, and the Black Mountains filled the background as he started speaking.
Mohave County, where Bullhead City is located, has higher poverty and unemployment rates than the state and nation, with a lower per-capita income, according to Census and state unemployment data.
Trump also spoke extensively about his aesthetic flourishes around Washington: the White House ballroom that is under construction and a just-completed helipad on the South Lawn, along with a triumphal arch he has planned for the capital city.
"The fake news media doesn't talk about how well we're doing" as a country, Trump said. Journalists ask him instead about “affordability," he said, pronouncing the word in a dismissive tone.
Trump traveled to Arizona to rally support for Rep. Andy Biggs, who is seeking to defeat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. Republicans running in the state's two competitive U.S. House districts, Jay Feely and Rep. Juan Ciscomani, did not attend the event.
Afterward, Trump was heading to Western Montana's 1st District to try to boost Aaron Flint, a former aide to retiring Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, who was Interior secretary in Trump's first-term Cabinet.
Trump has kept up a brisk pace of hour-plus-long rallies — new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia called it a “midterm blitz” — in his effort to stem expected Republican losses and fight a historical trend in which the president's party typically loses seats in elections halfway through their term in the White House.
Arizona stands out as the lone swing state among the president's recent stops, though the airport rally was in a county Trump won with 78% of the vote in 2024.
His other visits so far in October have taken him into traditionally solid Republican territory — Alabama, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas — as he weathers low approval ratings, rising costs and the Iran war.
With under three weeks left in the campaign, the Western swing comes as Trump's party has begun retreating from a handful of battleground U.S. House races and Democrats aim to raise money for candidates who seemed like long shots earlier this year.
The shifting money in the final weeks of midterm campaigns reflects an increasingly defensive posture by Republicans, who have already trimmed their expectations in U.S. Senate races, and new aggression from Democrats, who are trying to capitalize on Trump’s low public approval.
Trump twice won Arizona, in 2016 and 2024, but lost the state in 2020. Montana's 1st District is slightly less Republican overall than the state, which voted for Trump by double digits in each of his three presidential campaigns.
Biggs, of Arizona, has been a stalwart ally of the president and assisted Trump's attempt to block certification by the House of Trump's 2020 election defeat. A one-time head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, he's represented a safe GOP seat since winning election in 2016.
He faces Hobbs, who narrowly defeated Republican Kari Lake in the governor's race four years ago. Arizona was long a GOP stronghold, and registered Republicans still outnumber Democrats and independents by a comfortable margin, but voters have repeatedly rejected Trump allies and handed the state's top offices to Democrats.
Trump said Biggs “will always stand with law enforcement” and took aim at Hobbs, who he said “does the bidding of the cartels” on the U.S.-Mexico border. Hobbs counters that she has strengthened the border by sending National Guard troops there and has boosted local law enforcement funding.
In Montana, Flint won the president's and Zinke's endorsement during the June primary. An Army veteran and talk-radio host, Flint assails progressive Democrats like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as part of his campaign.
Flint's opponent is Sam Forstag, a Democratic labor union leader and Forest Service smokejumper, a specialized firefighter who gets to fires by aircraft and parachute.
Catalini reported from Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and Cooper from Phoenix.
President Donald Trump greets Arizona gubernatorial candidate Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., at a campaign rally at the Laughlin Bullhead International Airport, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in Bullhead City, Ariz. (AP Photo/John Locher)
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Laughlin Bullhead International Airport, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in Bullhead City, Ariz. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People cheer as President Donald Trump arrives at Laughlin Bullhead International Airport for a campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in Bullhead, Ariz. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Laughlin Bullhead International Airport for a campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in Bullhead, Ariz. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Air Force One with President Donald Trump aboard flys past before landing for a campaign rally at the Laughlin Bullhead International Airport, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in Bullhead City, Ariz. (AP Photo/John Locher)
President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at Harry Reid International Airport, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nev. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
